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My Bio

My name is Dawn, I'm here in sunny Orange County California. I've been a crafter since I was very very young - I started sewing at 5 years old on my Great-Grandma's Singer treadle sewing machine. I joke with people about not knowing what came first for me, crafts, colors or jewelry, but I think they all started about the same time. My beloved Grandma had a year-round business of hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind, beautiful Christmas ornaments. She had a huge tree up in the basement that never got taken down - it was her display. She taught me to sew, to embroider, tat lace, crochet, and of course how to make Christmas ornaments. She had a huge workshop where she had a full spectrum of beads, sequins, lace, ribbons and other trims. Not to mention the pearls and other cabochon and flat-backed gems. No 2 ornaments were alike and our family joke was always about which of the ornaments had real gems and was worth the fortune - still a running joke since we will never know, Grandma never told anyone. Her ornaments were like jewelry for the Christmas tree.

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I love purple, almost any shade. Purple is the black in my wardrobe. I also love green, especially OD green (olive drab for those not military inclined), blues and pinks. I'm not particularly fond of yellows, oranges and browns and I don't like black at all. Color combinations I enjoy include purple/any color, purple/green, navy/pink, periwinkle/pink or teal/pink. I'm a staunch and proud American Patriot and my son's high school is appropriately named Patriots, so red, white and blue is also a big favorite color combo of mine.

I love gemstones and own a lot of rings in a rainbow of gemstone colors. My favorites are amethyst, alexandrite, iolite, London blue topaz and pearl. My son's birthday is in June so his birthstones are pearl and alexandrite (both of which I loved before he was born, so I'm a happy camper), and my birthstone is topaz and I tend to lean toward the blue topaz stones rather than the traditional yellow/orange stones. I also love Swarovski crystals, any color! Oh, and I love opals but I don't own any -- my Grandma always said that it was bad luck to buy an opal for yourself and I've never received one as a gift, so....there's an idea for ya, Swarovski has some really beautiful opal-like beads.

I like necklaces that are between 17" to 20"; I have a small frame so I tend to stay away from huge chunky pieces, although I like substantial jewelry rather than something so delicate that it's almost fragile. My wrist is small and is right at 6", however, I like my fancy bracelets to be a bit loose at 6.5" to 7". I wear elastic magnetic bracelets on both wrists every day to help with the ache and stiffness of arthritis starting to set into my fingers, and I like those bracelets to be only a hair loose to allow for any swelling in my wrist. I do have pierced ears and I prefer medium-sized earrings; I have long hair that I usually wear down so really large earrings or anything too-very long just gets tangled up in it.

I have no preference as to metal, I wear whatever coordinates with my outfit each day, whether that be gold or silver. I've recently taken an interest in copper because of some wonderful focal beads I found at one of my LBS's. I'm not hesitant to wear anything that might tarnish, I take good care of my jewelry and have anti-tarnish linings in every drawer of my jewelry chest.

Right now I only do simple stringing, but this year I will be learning and branching out into beadweaving (off-loom) and wireworking (I just ordered my first wig jig, a cheap learner's set to see if I can do it and if I like it). I love working with gemstones as much as I love wearing them and I'm especially fond of pearls and mother-of-pearl in all kinds of colors. I usually stay away from acrylic and plastic beads, I much prefer the way glass, gemstones and crystal beads feel when I'm working with them. I also live with the philosophy that if it's not something I would love and wear myself (unless it's a commission piece with components specifically requested by the client), then I won't make it.

I hope that covers everything. Since this is supposed to be a secret type of swap, if there's anything I've left out, Sheila can catch me to get an answer for you. I also hope that I've given enough information without being too exclusionary for you to feel a creative flow about what to make for me. Rest assured, I'm not concerned about whether I get something woven, wire-worked or strung, if you make it yourself, by hand and meant just for me, I will love it!